Attempting to find a parking spot may be a normal activity for drivers. A navigation system may calculate a route from a starting point to a destination. However, if there is no parking available at the destination, the efficient routing may be wasted. A driver may spend additional time and energy cruising or circling the destination to find an open parking spot. Calculating an arrival time at a destination may not take into account the additional time that is spent trying find an open spot. Further, in certain areas, an open parking post may be located just a short distance away, that, if the navigation system was aware of, could save time by setting the destination for the open spots and not the requested destination that lacks open parking spots. The availability of parking may thus be a key factor in providing improved routing services.
Parking systems have been implemented that make use of sensors or mobile applications to identify open spots. However, the systems may be difficult and expensive to implement (e.g. digging up a parking spot to install a sensor) and as such may only cover newly constructed parking structures or specific high traffic areas. Other parking systems such as counting the number of vehicles in and out of a lot may be used, but also have limited usage and require specialized devices. Such systems may only cover a fraction of the total parking spots in a region.